AgTalk | Designing undergoing phase of transition: Lokusdesign's Badve

With ever-changing communication landscape, it is very essential for every brand to mark its presence in each sphere of the brand communication – right from devising supreme quality product, to communicating the brand promise, every detail is now under the spotlight. Considering the growing complex branding space, delivering a brand’s idea and promise isn’t an easy task. A product’s packaging and designing today play a vital role in communicating a brands image, aptly to its target consumers. Brand and packaging design is a key to enable a brand to create, enhance, communicate and connect seamlessly with consumers.

Keeping this in line, Lokusdesign develops design solutions through scientific approach to enhance brand performance and facilitate business growth. Lokusdesign aims at understanding the motives behind consumer choice and emotions behind every brand or product preferences. Company’s insight-led approach seeks to generate ideas and solutions that identify real and distinctive consumer behavior.

With a focus on brand and packaging design innovation, Lokusdesign specializes in corporate identity programs, communication & graphic design, packaging design structure & mechanisms, engineering design, and production.  Over the years the company has delivered design ideas to over 100 blue-chip brands such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, BP, Sharp, Godrej, Havells, Cadbury, Mahindra & Mahindra, Videocon, Larsen & Toubro, Dabur, Ranbaxy, Park Avenue, Bajaj Finserv, Honeywell, & Suzlon.

Firm believer in delivering impactful design solutions, Chandrashekhar (Shekhar) Badve is one of the founding directors of Lokusdesign. At Lokusdesign, he is responsible for driving the corporate strategy and marketing operations including organizational growth and lead design strategy advisory for its key clients. Bringing more than a decade of experience in strategic design consulting, design innovation, and design research, he has provided design solutions to brands across a wide spectrum of industries. A post-graduate from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahemdabad, he has worked across a range of sectors including FMCG, Healthcare & Wellness, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering, Automotive, Banking, Travel & Telecom.

Adgully (AG): You are a design professional having knowledge in design consultancy and design innovation. What made you chose the entrepreneurial path?
Shekhar Badve (SB): By the virtue of being a part of a design institute I needed to find a niche in this industry and the difference we all were seeking. The idea of initiating Lokusdesign came from a thought process that there was a huge gap between ‘what a brand aspired to be’ and ‘what it actually was’. We realized that the industry required a fresh perspective and ideas that would effectively bridge this gap. The company was launched as a solution, by Milind Risaldar and me, to fill in this void in the industry and associate with brands and translate ‘smart brands’ to ‘intelligent products’. A few years later, Siddharth Kabra (NID alumini) joined forces and from then on there was no looking back. Thanks to the support of a lot of well wishers helped us sail through some ups and downs successfully and with some amazing experiences.
Over the course of time we have evolved to become well constructed brand and packaging design consulting firm, with an clear objective to create ‘ideas of impact’ that enables brands to manifest and leverage their core business objectives by strategic innovation and design interventions. We have enabled brands to communicate their core essence in the most simple, effective and desirable way through branding and packaging solutions.

AG: Shed some light on the services Lokusdesign offers to its clients. Also, do you (like many other players in the industry) believe that design solutions need to grow and evolve with passing time?
SB: Lokusdesign offers brand design and consulting services to its clients. We understand the role that brand plays in consumer preferences, creation of the relevant brand equity, and the fit between the client’s brand and the identified customer sets and opportunities. From analyzing the industry to defining the brand personality, we help carve out a unique communications platform and build a comprehensive communications plan that differentiates our customer’s brand in the marketplace.
Evolution is the key to success of any industry, design trends are influenced by external and internal factors. While the internal factors include a consumer’s tastes and preferences, the external factors are the economic and socio cultural transitions that a country goes through. These factors make it imperative for us to ensure that we as experts grow and evolve to a level where we have idea of the next phase of change so that we can equip the brands we work with in advance.

AG: Share with us some of the top clients the company has today. What are the strategies adopted by Lokusdesign in order to gain new clients and retain the older ones?
SB: On the occasion of Bajaj Electricals 75th anniversary, Lokusdesign rebranded their packaging system and design apart from that we have been working on the design and branding strategy for blue chip companies like Hindustan Unilever, ITC, BP, Smirnoff, Sharp, Godrej, Havells, Cadbury, Mahindra & Mahindra, Videocon, Larsen & Toubro, Dabur, Ranbaxy, Park Avenue, Bajaj Finserv, Honeywell, & Suzlon. Our brand communication campaign for Smirnoff has also won the ET Awards for Retail Excellence in Consumer Insights and Shoppers Behavior.
At Lokusdesign we take pride in understanding the business concerns of the client and getting into the root cause of the problem. Before plunging into the creative phase, we chose to pause and analyze the scenarios to bring to surface, issues and opportunities which otherwise deemed insignificant. We employ our specialist research methodologies, observational insights and proprietary analytical processes to identify needs, trends and avoid iterations and unsuccessful ideas. This process is a trademark to Lokusdesign as we strongly believe in delivering ‘Ideas of impact’ to our new and existing clients. The success of our previous campaigns has led to a number of clients coming to us through word of mouth.

AG: What are the challenges faced by the industry on the whole and Lokusdesign at micro level? Share some crucial lessons you learnt over the years.
SB: I have seen the Indian corporate changing from reluctance to acceptance to proactive utilization of design thinking. About a decade ago the Indian design industry was at a relatively nascent stage hence there was a lack of understanding and awareness regarding its impact on the brand image and overall corporate culture. Today with global brands entering the Indian realm and competition becoming more active things are changing. Brand managers are exposed to markets across the world and it has become imperative for them to translate brand communication through their products in accordance with the changing needs and preferences of the consumer. They have understood the value addition and edge that innovative packaging and branding gives to their products. This is a very positive trend and will play a major role in the overall growth of the industry.
Over the years, one of the most important lessons that I have learnt is that brand managers look for agencies who would work with them as partners. It is integral for us as agencies to take onus of the clients business and articulate ideas that are relevant and add value to the business.

AG: How competitive is the design industry in India and how does Lokusdesign beat the competition heat?
SB: The design industry is going through an interesting phase of transition. Clients have understood the value addition that design brings to their business and are open to new and interesting ideas. This is a wave most design companies would love to ride on to. In terms of competition, the design industry has become extremely competition with a host of start-ups and mid-sized companies that have entered the market.
The larger agencies are currently facing the heat from local brands and global agencies. As for Lokusdesign, with our expertise in understanding the mindset of the consumer and aligning the same with the business objectives of the client we have been able to effectively beat the heat.

AG: What are the some of the projects the company is working on in the near future?
SB: Due to confidentiality clause that we have with our customers, we would not be able to reveal the names of the brands that we are working with. Having said that, we are working with brands in key sectors including healthcare, FMCG, and technology.

AG: Though you are located in Pune, give us a sense of how the company is placed in the country?
SB: In the industry that we operate in location does not really make a huge difference. We currently have a office in Pune with about 50 people and we are soon going to expand our operations to Delhi.

AG: How do you perceive designing as an industry in India viz a viz your international counterparts? What are those 4-5 things that Indian Design consultancies should learn and unlearn from global players?
SB: International design players articulate their strategy extremely well. They customize it to the needs and understanding of the client. Their value based approach, focus and understanding of the brands ethos enables them to identify and customize design solutions that would provide the apt business impact.
As far as Indian industry is concerned, we have been able to align the brand’s impact with effective design solutions. Having said that, there is scope for innovation and exploration which would come only if the brands are willing to take risks and be open to unorthodox ideas. With greater exposure to design solutions, brand managers are growing up to understand the value addition it gives to their business.
With the industry growing at a stead fast pace, in the next three to four years one can expect great case studies coming out of Indian stable.